The Sufi Culture in Sudan

A Vibrant Sufi Culture In Sudan

Sudan’s ancient culture gets resurrected in Omdurman, every Friday, which in many developing economies is regarded as a holy day. Omdurman is the biggest city in the country and it is where the Qadiriyya Sufi faction get together. In front of the mosque that keeps the tomb of the order’s 19th Century Sufi leader,

A local Sufi paradeAn ancient Sudanese culture

The Sufi community in Sudan is one of the world’s biggest and it is considered to be a division of Islam, that is mystic in nature because devotees want to follow their own path to God. Each and every Sufi faction together embrace an ideology, titled dhikr, which involves total worship. The worship rituals involve prayers, dancing and spinning that go around and around to inject an energetic trance.

Clothes for the religious occasion vary from the quite regular green (trims are orange in colour) to exuberant colours, sporting technicolor layers or fabric strips. Sometimes, this whole look is completed with sunglasses, sashes embroidered with religious text and prayer beads.

Spiritual worshipers in red/green/orangeSmoke from incense burningThe colour green is worn because it is supposed to project a sense of calm.A colourful religious festival, shrouded with mysticism